Yom Kippur 101

The High Holy Days have been daunting for this convert. During Rosh Hashanah services I almost freaked out as not all Hebrew text was transliterated. Listening to me read Hebrew is similar to listening to a 1st grader who is just learning how to read…you need an exceptional amount of time and patience. Yom Kippur will undoubtedly have more unfamiliar prayers & rituals and not everything will be transliterated, so my game plan is to “pre-game”. Why so much anxiety? Look at how Wikipedia describes this particular day.

As the above passage indicates, there is a tremendous amount of pressure and as I wish to NOT spend my time at services feeling ashamed of my Jew”ish”ness, I need a “YK 101”. Thanks to the almighty power of Google, I have come up with a little Days of Awe/Yom Kippur cheat sheet. I cannot wait to figure out if what I’ve learned is found in the Reform service setting…or if it is even true. So….read at your own risk.

Who am I? Where am I going? How can I make this world a better place with my presence?

Kaparot

As I don’t know of anybody who partakes in the tradition of “Kaparot” (which apparently entails killing a chicken and waving it above my head) I feel ok about skipping it.

Apologies

YK is all about atonement and it is apparently not enough to just think about being sorry. I need to apologize to those I may have wronged this past year. The person that first comes to my mind is my ex. There may be a few things I need to address. Sigh.

Festive Meals

I will be sure to eat drink and be merry pre- fasting. Apparently I need to have several meals and be extra exuberant. Done.

Mikveh

I don’t know if the ritual bathing applies to me… yet.

Honeycake

I’m sure Whole Foods will have it. They must have it. Right? I must have honey cake!!!!!!!!

Services

As many Jews only come to shul for the High Holidays be sure to reserve your shul spot NOW.

Theme

A rabbi from my shul suggested I spend the week focusing on “grace”. In his Erev Rosh Hashanah sermon he defined grace as; The act of God loving us unconditionally simply because we exist, not because we have earned God’s love (thanks Rabbi Katz!).